Many people living in one day day at a time recovery know what it’s like to be like kids in the rooms of recovery. We pick up chips or key tags to mark milestones in early recovery and because of this we have feelings of pride and accomplishment. We also become slogan happy – “One day at a time” “Easy does it” “Let go and let God”… These are special moments that help us out immensely and that new kid attitude can still come out after years of abstinence. We can’t help it because many of us are young at heart. Even the old-timers and the cynics can feel this way. Recovery is a beautiful thing. Enjoy it and be grateful. What else would we want to do. So let’s be kids about it. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery know that some days it’s left-overs. This is a good thing. It means we have had and will have in abundance. When we compare it to recovery it means some of the tools that we use in our recovery are still good the next day. Look at our slogans. “One day at a time” and “Easy does it”. They are useful any time. Also let us remember “Let go and let God” which is a universal reality. We also remember that bottom we hit which gave us that gift of desperation. That one time seeming hopeless state of mind and body that we thought we had to live in is no more. Left-overs takes care of that. They are a positive reality of recovery. It’s good old-fashioned humility. Be grateful. Welcome to grace. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery know the importance of the written word. In truth 12 step programs are based on and continue to be because of it. We will see that some people will dismiss and sometimes put down written material which has been passed down through generations. The written word has been a big part of keeping the program going. Without it we would lose a great deal of knowledge. Remember this. We might not have survived without it. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery are true to trying to help people who live with concurrent disorders to find ways of being responsible in every way for their own recovery. This reality usually entails active participation in the rooms of recovery. Simply being in the rooms we are taking and we are receiving even if we sit and say nothing. How can we be giving if we say nothing? We do so by listening because someone needs to hear the message and if we are paying attention everyone is hearing the message when we listen. Listening helps us to grow and develop a deep sense of responsibility and responsibility strengthens our reality of recovery for all of us. We are soon to understand the gift of desperation. It’s all grace. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand that when the doorway is dark the moon often lights an untravelled path through the nearby woods. In other words there are people in the rooms of recovery who will help us to navigate a journey through what is an unfamiliar reality to us and that unfamiliar reality is the reality of early one day at a recovery. They tell us to engage in this reality by not picking up that first one and to please keep coming back and when we keep coming back they tell us to try to listen in order that we will see the reality of recovery which is if we listen we have a good chance of having doable, happy, and fulfilling lives. Although the doorway was dark, we have found hope in well lit early recovery. We now have faith. Peace
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality of anxiety. Anxiety usually hits us when we’re not ready for it. When this happens we might find ourselves in the middle of a panic attack which leaves us unable to deal with adversity at that moment. What happens is in a panic attack we react instead of respond and we lose our calm. Arguments happen when we don’t respond calmly and the words “I am sorry” will be need to be said. Hopefully we have found our calm by then and gentleness takes root. Panic attacks are hard on everyone. When we are calm we are living in the solution and living in the solution is how we deal with anxiety. We will find it. Breathe. Find the calm and be the gentle. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand that we’re not supposed to know everything. In reality though we’re supposed to reach out for help so we will have a chance to become recovering people. We do so by understanding we must somehow become abstinent which often happens in a detox, a rehab, or hospital. Our reality is that we will all need some kind of support when we are discharged. Often we will be followed up with outpatient care. We could be directed to attend 12 step meetings for their much needed support. In doing so we will discover that we’re not supposed to know everything and we need to listen up and if we do we have a good chance of maintaining our recovery. It’s just a reality. We are always learning. With this knowledge we have a chance. Listen. Reach out. Peace
Many people living in one day at a time recovery learn that sooner or later the noise in our heads settle down. Some claim we need to do shadow work in order that we find the taming of the noise when the ego stops needing so much recognition and attention. People living in 12 step recovery start their shadow work with writing a searching and fearless moral inventory. For some of us the work continued on in journaling and other forms of developmental writing. In doing so we became aware that our shadows are the parts of us that we ignored, hid, or stuffed down so deep that even we denied them. When we accepted our shadows the noise began to settle down and they became a recognized part of us. We become healthier, whole and more mature. We became self-aware. Today we know ourselves. Freedom has a new meaning. Peace
Many people living in one day at a time recovery know what it is like to be living the reality of our unimagined dreams. Most of us would say that our lives are more than full of reality, hope, and one day at a time freedom. We know the blessing of grace and we have plentiful skills and supports to help keep us abstinent on a daily basis. We find it natural to be capable of fulfilling our obligations to our families, our friends, our co-workers and ourselves. In doing so our lives become absolute fantastic journeys in which we know adversity is real but it is always doable and we cope with it. We are living the reality of our unimagined dreams. Enjoy it. And for this we thank God. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality of addiction and because of this understanding we know that we have to work on recovery each and every day. Touching base on a daily basis with at least one person who is in recovery is an important thing to do. Why? Because we help each other. When we do this we create a sense of belonging in which we know that in order to stay abstinent we need help. This keeps us humble and having humility goes a long way in living one day at a time recovery. People who live in 12 step recovery have been doing this for close to a century now. They show us the importance of togetherness. We are grateful and happy people. For most of us there is no other way. We reach out, trust God, and live the journey. It’s all grace. Peace.